


Beautiful Anyway

by jule1122



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Maria DeLuca & Alex Manes Friendship, Maria DeLuca Positive, minor background Malex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29240277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jule1122/pseuds/jule1122
Summary: “Do you remember this?”  He reaches into his pocket and sets a small piece of quartz on the table.“You still have that?”  Maria picks it up, and turns it over in her palm.  She can’t believe Alex kept it.  It wasn’t anything special, she bought it on a whim during their seventh grade field trip to the Natural History Museum.
Relationships: Maria DeLuca & Alex Manes
Comments: 32
Kudos: 27
Collections: Maria DeLuca Healing Crystals Celebration





	Beautiful Anyway

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Maria Healing Crystals Celebration. 
> 
> My first gen fic for Roswell. This is focused on Maria and Alex's friendship, but there are a few small references to Malex.
> 
> Title from the Judah & The Lion song of the same name. I think it is a great song for both Alex and Maria, and if came on at the bar, Maria and Liz would drag Alex onto the dance floor and make him sing it with them.

Maria hears the door open and looks up from the pile of bar towels she's folding. She’s not expecting anyone, and deliveries come to the back. Hopefully it’s not another tourist demanding a drink three hours before they open.

“Alex!” She’s pleasantly surprised to see him. “What can I get you?” She automatically starts to get up even though Alex knows where everything is.

“Nothing,” he waves for her to stay seated. “I came to see you.”

He sits across from her and takes some of the unfolded towels from her pile, watching her carefully before starting to fold one himself. One of the reasons Maria still does this herself is she likes her towels folded a specific way that no one else ever takes the time to master. But Alex pays attention, looking over at her frequently while folding the first few towels, and by the time they’re done, his pile of carefully folded towels is indistinguishable from hers.

“So,” she prompts once the towels are put away, and she rejoins Alex at the table. It’s not like him to just stop by, and while he doesn’t seem upset, she senses some uncertainty from him.

“Do you remember this?” He reaches into his pocket and sets a small piece of quartz on the table.

“You still have that?” Maria picks it up, and turns it over in her palm. She can’t believe Alex kept it. It wasn’t anything special, she bought it on a whim during their seventh grade field trip to the Natural History Museum. They had been killing time in the museum store after lunch, neither of them having the money or desire for over priced T-shirts or plastic dinosaurs. But the rocks and crystals were only two dollars a piece.

Alex had been miserable the whole time. He had a broken wrist from his father, and a split lip from a fight with Trevor Ford that started when Trevor asked him loudly in the hallway if he earned his A in math on his knees under the teacher’s desk. But it was the look on his face when Kyle walked right past him to sit with Trevor on the bus that had Maria sticking close to Alex all day. 

As they pretended to shop, Alex kept wandering back over to the table with the crystals. Maria remembers thinking it looked like a garden with each type stone in it’s individual container and pieces of white cardstock sticking up that listed the stone’s properties and benefits. First she saw Alex reorganizing the table, returning the misplaced stones left by careless classmates back in their proper sections. Then every few minutes, he’d walk back over, picking up different crystals and rubbing them with his thumb or letting a handful run through his fingers.

When he started looking through a book on Navajo code breakers, she’d gone back to the table and quickly scanned the information cards. After she read that quartz helped with anxiety and relieved stress and frustration, she grabbed the biggest stone from the pile and bought it. She still remembered Alex’s pleased smile when she slipped it to him before they got on the bus at the end of the day.

“Of course I still have it,” Alex replies, breaking her out of the memory. “I took it with me on all three tours. Lost track of it for a while between the cabin and the house, but other than that I’ve had it with me since you gave it to me.”

“Alex,” Maria closes her eyes against the tears that want to form, overwhelmed at the importance Alex placed on such a small gift.   
She stares at the quartz, wondering what he sees when he looks at it, before reaching her hand out for him to take it. Alex shakes his head and closes her fingers around the stone, “I thought you could keep it for now.”

“It’s yours,,” Maria objects, but he doesn’t say anything, just looks at her with such love and stubbornness that she pulls her hand back. She rubs the quartz between her fingers, feeling the warmth it already absorbed from just those few seconds in her palm. 

“You can talk to me, you know,” Alex says gently when she continues to play with the crystal.

“I know.” And she does, but she just doesn’t know what to say. The last few years have been hard, for all of them, not just her. After nearly shutting down, the Wild Pony is finally in the black again, but it’s taken a lot of hard work to get there. On top of that, Mimi broke her leg last winter and is still recovering from her third, and hopefully final, surgery. Rosa left three months ago for a year-long apprenticeship with an artists collective in Seattle. And as happy as Maria is for her, she can’t help but wonder if she’ll come back, or just be another in a long line of people who move on and leave Maria behind. She’s tired and frustrated and lonely, but no one is supposed to see that. “I’m fine, Alex. It’s nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”

She puts the crystal on the table, but he sets it right back in her hand. “How about you keep the quartz until you can say that without lying.”

Maria picks up the crystal again, but still doesn’t say anything. After a moment, Alex launches into a story about a new client who has some interesting ideas about exactly what cyber security is, all the while tapping away at his phone.

When he finishes his story, he sets his phone down and gives her his full attention. “Max will be here at five to cover your shift.”

“Max hasn’t been here in,” Maria starts to object, trailing off when she realizes she can’t remember the last time Max worked at the Pony.

“He still knows how to pour drinks and run the cash register,” Alex waves away her concerns. “Besides, Michael will be here to keep an eye on things.”

“Just Michael?” she asks with a knowing look.

“Yes, just Michael, because I am your designated driver for the night,” Alex dramatically presses his hand to his chest. “You and Liz are going dancing, and if you’re lucky, I might even find a bar with karaoke.”

When Alex first mentioned Max coming in for the night, Maria immediately started dreaming of a bubble bath and a glass of wine. But a night of dancing sounds like exactly what she needs. She loves the idea of going to a bar where no one knows her, drinking as much as she wants and singing at the top of her lungs on the dance floor. “You know we’re going to close the place down.”

“I’m counting on it,” Alex smiles. “Now that we have that settled, tell me one practical thing I can do to help you.”

She’s immediately flooded with ideas, but she pushes them aside and shakes her head. “A night out is enough. I can handle the rest.”

“I know you can handle the rest, you are handling it, but you don’t have to do it alone.” Alex leans forward on the table and holds her gaze. “I know how strong and capable you are, Maria, but just because you can handle everything, doesn’t mean you have too.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I really don’t need anything,” Maria tries to reassure him, hoping he’ll drop it.

“I haven’t always been there for you; I know that. I was gone for a long time, and when I came back, I wasn’t in a good place to help you, or anyone, really. But I am now. I want to help you, and right now I can. I can’t promise that will always be the case so please let me do this now,” Alex takes her hand and squeezes it.

She knows he’s sincere, but also knows he’s not above playing on her feelings. “Alex Manes, are you trying to guilt me into letting you help me by making it seem like I am doing you a favor?”

“Maybe,” he can’t hold back his smile now that she’s caught him. “Is it working?”

He laughs when she glares at him, but his expressions quickly turns from mischievous to calculating. “So if that didn’t convince you, let’s try bartering.”

She leans back and raises one brow at him in a clear challenge. 

“I got approved for a service dog.”

“Alex, that’s wonderful!” She wants to be pissed that he beat her right out of the gate, but she’s too happy for him to be annoyed. Michael and Alex’s therapist have been advocating for Alex to get a service dog for years, but he’s never followed through. She knew part of it was his deeply ingrained fear of admitting to weakness especially in a way that is visible to others. But he’s also told her how hard it was to accept that while love and happiness were not a cure for his PTSD, they also weren’t diminished by it. Alex always downplayed his own struggles, but taking this step hopefully meant he was finally learning that refusing help he needed because someone else might need it more benefited no one. Maria knew there was a lesson in there for her too, but she wasn’t quite ready to learn it.

“I was going to ask you to watch the house while we’re gone for training. You know as a favor, but if we’re not doing that, I could pay you or ask someone else.”

Maria purses her lips before slumping in her chair and admitting defeat. “That’s dirty pool.”

“Learned from the best,” Alex smirks. “We’ll be gone for a few weeks so make a good trade.”

Work takes up most of her time these days, but as much as she loves and trusts Alex, the Pony has always been hers, and she really doesn’t want anyone else involved. But there are plenty of other sources of stress in her life. “Mom has physical therapy for her leg twice a week, and the only time we could get her in with a therapist she actually likes is just before opening,” Maria begins hesitantly.

“Done,” Alex says immediately. “Send me the schedule and once I see what she’s working on, I can help with her at home exercises too.”

“Good luck with that,” Maria rolls her eyes. Mimi refuses to acknowledge her limits most days let alone do her therapy.

“Mimi loves me, we’ll be fine,” Alex says confidently.

When she starts thinking about how much time this will actually free up for her, Maria can’t help but sigh in relief. “Thank you, Alex.”

“No thanks needed,” Alex takes her hand again and smiles. “Besides you might not be so appreciative once you see Michael’s extensive list of plant care instructions.”

They both laugh as Alex pushes his chair back, “I should get going. I’ll pick you up at six.”

“Going to get pretty for our date?” Maria teases.

“Please,” Alex snorts. “I’ll be the guy at the back table drinking my rumless coke while the two most beautiful women I know light up the dance floor. No one will be looking at me.”

“Would it matter if they were?” she taps her finger against his ring.

“Nope,” Alex says as he stands. “But I have a feeling you’re going to get lucky tonight.”

“Maybe,” Maria thinks about it, letting the anticipation bubble inside her. Thinks about wearing her favorite lingerie and letting a hot stranger get her off in the bathroom. She shimmies a little as she gets up and hugs Alex.

“No maybe about it, I know that look.” Alex kisses her on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She waits until he leaves to get back to work. She wants everything to be perfect before she leaves for the night. Every now and then she reaches into her pocket for the quartz crystal Alex left with her, drawn to the warmth of its smooth surface. Humming as she works, Maria feels lighter than she has in a long time.


End file.
